[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 20, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H4259-H4260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECENT EVIDENCE OF MARINE MAMMAL HARASSMENT IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Allen) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to discuss the harassment 
of whales and other marine mammals in Puget Sound, all the way across 
the country from my home District in Maine, and a few words by way of 
background.
  I served for 6 years on the Committee on Armed Services in this 
House. Half

[[Page H4260]]

of all the destroyers in the United States are made at Bath Ironworks 
in my District. I am a strong supporter of the Navy, and I believe that 
we need to do everything we can to protect the national security. 
However, in some cases, the Navy is not paying attention to competing 
demands, and this House is not paying attention to competing needs as 
well because the Defense authorization bill is likely to come to the 
floor soon, and included in the Defense authorization bill is a blanket 
waiver for the Department of Defense from the Marine Mammal Protection 
Act.
  That is an Act that has been in existence for a long period of time. 
It has done a great deal to save marine mammals: whales, dolphins and 
other marine mammals. It is very, very important.
  We have had a debate going on in this Congress for some time about 
the Navy's new long range, low-frequency sonar, and there has been 
grave concern. A couple of years ago, there was an incident in the 
Bahamas where whales were stranded. Many of them died. They were found 
to have bleeding around the eyes and ears, a suggestion that they had 
been damaged by sonar. The Navy later admitted that that, in fact, was 
the likely cause of the death of those particular whales.
  Now it has happened again, and today, what I want to do is cite a 
very recent example of marine mammal harassment and the use of sonar by 
the Navy, but as I said, all the way across the country from my home 
State of Maine.
  On May 5, just a couple of weeks ago, whale watchers were observing 
porpoises and a pod of 22 orcas, endangered killer whales, at their 
feeding grounds in the Puget Sound. At the same time, the USS Shoup, a 
U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, started to conduct sonar operations 
in the Sound. The whale observers noted that the animals abruptly 
stopped their feeding, gathered in a tight group and quickly left the 
area. The animals surfaced frequently in what appeared to be an attempt 
to avoid the intense mid-frequency, long duration pings from the ship's 
SQS 53C sonar. The sonar pings were so powerful that they could be 
heard in the air by observers on the shore of San Juan Island in Puget 
Sound.
  Let me show my colleagues the photograph. For once, the changes in 
behavior of the whales was observed and here is the photograph. This is 
a photograph taken on May 5. The USS Shoup is in the background. It is 
at this moment, when the photograph was taken, using a sonar. This is a 
smaller boat, a whale watching boat, a whole raft of people watching 
this pod of orcas down here at the bottom. There is also a video. I 
have not seen it yet, but I am told it is a startling video which shows 
the rapid change in behavior of the whales trying to get away from this 
very loud, mid-frequency sonar.
  The administration wants to exempt the Department of Defense from the 
Marine Mammal Protection Act in the face of absolute, uncontrovertible 
evidence that these mammals are harmed by sonar, and while I would 
agree that there may be times when that sonar has to be used, there are 
no terrorist subs in the Puget Sound. I can guarantee it. There is no 
threat from enemy submarines in the Puget Sound. We would know about 
that, and the Navy owes the country an explanation of why this ship was 
conducting sonar operations affecting, in all likelihood, every marine 
mammal within 20 miles of the USS Shoup in a place where it should not 
be and where they certainly should not be conducting sonar operations, 
particularly when it is pretty obvious there are whales in the area.
  Since May 5 several porpoises have washed up along the shore of the 
Washington State and Canadian coasts. Biologists at the Center for 
Whale Research in Friday Harbor, Washington, suspect that the sonar 
played a role in their deaths, since internal hemorrhaging was observed 
in the eyes and ears of many of these individuals.
  Yesterday, I spoke with Ken Balcomb, senior scientist of the center, 
who told me that he repeatedly observes how naval sonar operations 
influence marine mammal behavior, and the Navy knows that their sonar 
injures and kills whales at great distances; yet they still continue to 
exercise in places they should not do it.

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